“Your Highness, are you awake?” Shen Chu asked softly.
There was no sound from the inner chamber.
Shen Chu’s nose twitched slightly—she faintly caught the smell of something burning.
She gently lifted the curtain of the inner chamber and stepped inside.
Pei Yuan was still lying on the bed, asleep.
At the foot of the bed, a small incense burner had tipped over, its lid open, ash scattered everywhere. The half-burned incense still glowed red, and it had set fire to the bed curtain hanging down.
No wonder there was a smell of burning.
Shen Chu hurried forward, grabbed the tea from the side table, and poured it over the flames.
The fire was extinguished.
She breathed a sigh of relief and set the teapot back on the table. Just as she was about to leave, she heard Pei Yuan call out from the bed: “Don’t.”
Shen Chu turned to look.
Pei Yuan’s face was pale, his brows tightly furrowed, his head shaking constantly, large beads of sweat sliding down his forehead.
“Don’t… don’t come here.”
Was he having a nightmare?
Shen Chu hesitated, then decided to walk away.
Suddenly, Pei Yuan grabbed her arm.
Shen Chu stumbled, catching herself with one hand on the bed to keep from falling.
She glared at Pei Yuan in irritation, only to find that he was still murmuring incoherently, his voice pained and shrill, as if he were experiencing something unbearably agonizing in his dream.
His grip was strong and forceful, clutching her arm tightly, as if she were his only lifeline.
Shen Chu grimaced in pain—her arm was surely bruised.
Just as she was about to pry his hand off, he yanked her hard again.
Startled, she quickly pressed her hand against the bed once more to keep from falling headfirst onto Pei Yuan’s chest.
As if sensing something in his sleep, Pei Yuan, still holding her arm, nestled against her neck and gently nuzzled it, a warm, clinging smile spreading across his face as he murmured softly, “Mother…”
Three black lines appeared on Shen Chu’s forehead.
She had no desire to have a grown son like Pei Yuan.
She strained to pull her arm free, but found she couldn’t break his grip at all.
Just as she was debating whether to forcibly pry his hand open, her gaze suddenly fixed on Pei Yuan’s chest.
His white inner robe had come slightly open in the struggle, revealing a flash of lake blue inside—very conspicuous.
That color… it looked like her pouch.
Shen Chu instantly forgot about struggling. Half-lying there, she gently used her fingers to part Pei Yuan’s robe.
Pressed right against his chest was a lake-blue pouch, its color faded with age, embroidered with a pattern of mandarin ducks playing in the water, edged with pale gold thread.
It was the very one she had lost.
Shen Chu’s whole body trembled. When she couldn’t find it that day at Jingguosi, she had thought it was truly gone.
She never expected Pei Yuan had picked it up.
She hurriedly reached for it, only to discover that the pouch was tied to the sash of Pei Yuan’s inner robe with a thin thread.
To get the pouch, she would have to undo the sash.
What was wrong with this man, keeping her pouch pressed against his chest, right over his heart?
She gently slipped two fingers in and slowly pulled at the knot on the sash.
It came loose!
Overjoyed, she reached for the pouch.
Just as her hand was about to touch it, a large hand shot out and clamped tightly around her arm.
Pei Yuan’s icy voice sounded above her head. “Shen Chu, what do you think you’re doing?”
Shen Chu froze, then slowly turned her head to meet Pei Yuan’s gaze.
His eyes were cold as knives, filled with utter loathing.
“What? Trying to take advantage of me while I sleep? Shen Chu, you really are utterly repulsive.”
“I, this Prince, have no interest in you, you Duanshou Wang! Get lost!”
Shen Chu’s fingers twitched, and she felt the urge to throw a punch.
After she became famous for cursing Pei Yuan upon entering the capital, quite a few young ladies had taken a liking to her, but she avoided them all.
When she rode through the streets as the Zhuangyuan, countless handkerchiefs and flowers were thrown at her, and she gave no response whatsoever.
Back then, Pei Yuan had laughed and called her a Duanshou Wang.
Later, when her startled horse kicked Pei Yuan and the two became enemies, Pei Yuan gave her the title of Duanshou Wang.
“Likewise. I have no interest in you either, Sixth Prince. Though you, Sixth Prince, dragged me onto the bed without a word of explanation—if anyone didn’t know better, they’d think you were trying to do something to me,” Shen Chu retorted.
Pei Yuan frowned, his gaze drifting downward to see that he was gripping Shen Chu’s hand, which was resting against his neck.
His whole body jolted, and he shot upright, shoving Shen Chu away.
“Nonsense! How could I possibly have dragged you onto the bed? If you weren’t up to no good, why did you sneak into my inner chamber while I was sleeping?”
Shen Chu staggered but barely managed to keep her footing.
She rolled her eyes and pointed at the bedsheet soaked with spilled tea. “If I hadn’t come in, Your Highness would probably have been burned to a crisp? If anything, I saved your life.”
Pei Yuan’s gaze fell on the overturned incense burner on the floor. His eyes flickered, and a hint of mockery surfaced on his face.
“Who’s to say you didn’t knock over the incense burner while scheming something, then seize the chance to play my savior?”
Shen Chu couldn’t help herself. “Your Highness has quite the imagination.”
Pei Yuan narrowed his eyes and studied her coolly, as if assessing the truth of her words.
Shen Chu couldn’t be bothered to argue further. “The scriptures are copied. I’ve come to deliver them to Your Highness.”
Pei Yuan gave a flat “mm.” “Let me see them.”
Shen Chu handed over the scriptures.
Pei Yuan flipped through a few pages at random, put them away to the side, and shot her a dismissive glance.
“Anything else?”
Shen Chu…
Her hand had nearly broken from all that copying, and not even a word of thanks?
Silently, she added another entry in her mental ledger: arrogant and rude!
“Shen Chu takes her leave.”
She bowed and backed out of the room, but couldn’t help glancing at his chest.
What a pity—she’d been just a hair’s breadth away from grabbing the pouch.
Seeing her staring straight at his chest, Pei Yuan’s face immediately darkened.
“Get out. If you ever look at me with those greasy eyes again, I’ll gouge them out.”
Shen Chu… What she was eyeing was the pouch—who cared to spare him an extra glance?
Looks like she’d have to find another way to get the pouch back.
Leaving Qingfeng Lou, Shen Chu headed to Yihuchun Chalou.
She had arranged to meet Li Chengxuan, the young duke of Huguogong Fu, there today.
Li Chengxuan was already waiting at the entrance of Yihuchun Chalou. Spotting Shen Chu from a distance, he came bounding up with a grin and threw an arm around her shoulder.
“Chu, why are you only here now? I’ve been waiting forever.”
Shen Chu pushed his arm off. “None of that arm-around-the-shoulder stuff.”
Li Chengxuan, unbothered, draped his arm back on. “If we don’t sling arms, how are we supposed to show our brotherhood forged through life and death?”
Shen Chu dodged away and glared at him.
Li Chengxuan rubbed his nose with a smile. “Come on, let’s go up and have some tea.”
As for how she and Li Chengxuan became friends, that story also began when she entered the capital.
When she arrived in the capital, Pei Yuan startled her carriage’s horses, causing her to tumble out of the carriage. But she wasn’t hurt—because she happened to land right on top of this young duke.
Li Chengxuan had served as her human cushion, and afterward she verbally sparred with Pei Yuan, writing an article in a fit of rage that furiously denounced him, leaving Li Chengxuan watching in stunned awe.
The young duke took the article she’d written, read it through twice, and said only one word: “Damn!”
His second remark: “I love learned people best—those who can curse someone without a single dirty word.”
His third: “Not many people dare to curse the Sixth Prince in the middle of the street. This friendship is one I’m set on keeping.”
After that, Li Chengxuan often came to see her. She gave him the cold shoulder, but he never took offense—instead, he would sit beside her with a smile, watching her read.
In Li Chengxuan’s own words: “My head starts aching the moment I see words on a page. My grandmother said I should make more friends who love reading, so I can soak up a bit of that scholarly ink fragrance.”
After spending time together on several occasions, she gradually learned about Li Chengxuan’s background.
Li Chengxuan came from Huguogong Fu. His grandmother was Chengyang Da Zhang Gongzhu, the Emperor’s own paternal aunt, and his father was the heir to the Duke of Huguo.
Fifteen years ago, when the southern frontier was invaded, the old Duke of Huguo, along with his five sons and four grandsons, all died on the battlefield, leaving behind only Li Chengxuan, who had just turned two.
When the terrible news arrived, Chengyang Da Zhang Gongzhu carried her young grandson Li Chengxuan into the palace and had him inherit the title of Duke of Huguo, making him the youngest duke in all of Da Wei.
Afterward, Li Chengxuan, this single precious sprout, was raised in pampered luxury by his grandmother and a crowd of aunts. No one demanded literary or military brilliance of him, no one demanded he achieve glory or merit—they only wished for him to be happy, safe, and healthy.
And so Li Chengxuan’s life philosophy was simply: do whatever makes you happy.
He had hit it off with Shen Chu at first sight, and after a few meetings, he already regarded her as a close friend in his heart.
If anyone else gave him attitude, he would turn and walk away without a second thought—he certainly wouldn’t put up with it.
But when Shen Chu gave him attitude, he was perfectly willing to keep following her around with a cheerful grin.
Sure enough, even after being glared at twice by Shen Chu, he still scurried off to pour her a cup of tea.
Shen Chu took a sip and asked, “Young Duke, how goes the matter I asked you to look into?”
Outside the door, Pei Yuan, who was just about to enter the private room next door, happened to catch these words. His peach-blossom eyes narrowed.
Shen Chu and the young duke?
What business did the two of them have together?